In typical lithographic printing systems, a printing plate is formed to have “image regions” formed of a hydrophobic/oleophilic material and “non-image regions” formed of a hydrophilic/oleophobic material. The image regions correspond to the areas on the final print (i.e., the target substrate) that are occupied by ink, whereas the non-image regions correspond to the areas on the final print that are not occupied by said ink. The hydrophilic regions accept and are readily wetted by a water-based fluid, commonly referred to as a dampening fluid or fountain fluid (typically consisting of water and a small amount of alcohol as well as other additives and/or surfactants to reduce surface tension). The hydrophobic regions repel dampening fluid and accept ink, whereas the dampening fluid formed over the hydrophilic regions forms a fluid “release layer” for rejecting ink. The hydrophilic regions of the printing plate thus correspond to unprinted areas, or “non-image areas”, of the final print.
The ink may be transferred directly to a target substrate, such as paper, or may be applied to an intermediate surface, such as an offset (or blanket) cylinder in an offset printing system.
Typical lithographic and offset printing techniques utilize plates which are permanently patterned, and are therefore useful only when printing a large number of copies of the same image (i.e. long print runs), such as magazines, newspapers, and the like. However, variable data digital lithography or digital offset lithography has been developed as a system which uses a non-patterned reimageable surface that is initially uniformly coated with a dampening fluid layer. Regions of the dampening fluid are removed by exposure to a focused radiation source (e.g., a laser light source) to form pockets. A temporary pattern in the dampening fluid is thereby formed over the non-patterned reimageable surface. Ink applied thereover is retained in the pockets formed by the removal of the dampening fluid. The inked surface is then brought into contact with a substrate, and the ink transfers from the pockets in the dampening fluid layer to the substrate. The dampening fluid may then be removed, a new uniform layer of dampening fluid applied to the reimageable surface, and the process repeated.
Digital offset lithography printing systems use offset-type inks that are specifically designed and optimized to be compatible with various subsystems, including ink delivery systems and a laser imaging systems, to enable high quality digital printing at high speed. Related art offset-type inks suffer shortfalls including, but not limited to, (1) being difficult to deliver via preferred inking systems, including anilox roller-type inking systems, (2) being soluble in commonly-employed dampening fluids, such as octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4), (3) causing image background and/or ghosting issues, (4) being costly to manufacture and use, and (5) exhibiting inefficient image transfer. These shortfalls, individually and in combination, tend to narrow a design space within which related art inks are usable in the context of digital offset lithography printing systems.
Accordingly, there is a need to develop inks that exhibit improved qualities and that may address one or all of the above-identified shortfalls.